Archive for August 25th, 2010

Video shot from the window of Hel – Krakow Plaszow train on the night of 22 – 23 August by mgrokrutny

People crushed in coaches with no room to move, others travelling in the space between coaches, passengers jammed in toilets, mothers with small children crying because they cannot relieve themselves – reports like these have been coming in daily during the summer holidays. Meanwhile recently refurbished coaches are left to the mercy of vandals in sidings. Why? Because PKP IC is heading for a thumping loss and has been told to cap its deficit and cutting down on trains and coaches is the only way it knows how. Why? Because PKP IC management do not understand the basics of marketing and face track access that are amongst the highest in Europe. Why? Because the half-baked ‘reform’ of PKP makes Poland’s railways expensive to run and inefficient. Why? Because the government – despite its green posturing – is pursuing a pro-road agenda which the rest of Europe has long abandoned. Why? The Poles have a saying, Jeśli nie wiadomo o co chodzi, to chodzi o pieniądze. Which loosely translated means – if something doesn’t seem to make any sense, you can bet someone’s making money out of it. With a hat tip to Podróżny for the link to the video.

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